Killing me chemically

Influenced by reading one too many raw food cookbooks, I got to thinking about all the chemicals in my beauty supplies. The jury is still out on many items I use every day. Nanoparticles of zinc and titanium oxides in my sunscreen? Organic sunscreens? What if you put them on your freshly shaven legs? What if you sweat and they slide into a cut? Well, you'll surely get cancer and die.

But it wasn't until a particularly bad hangover that I realized the potential harm of nail polish. It was strange. I woke up in the morning and my fingers were throbbing... SUFFOCATING. The nail polish I had applied the night before was somewhat covering my cuticles, and that's when I learned that our cuticles need to breath, or else.  

Now, I love nail polish. I love the color options. I love picking it off. I love the way it looks when I've refrained from picking it off. It makes typing more fun. It makes drinking from fancy glasses more fun. It makes the dirt under my nails from gardening less noticeable. I just love it. But what I don't want to invite are toxic chemicals getting into my cuticles and nail beds. Therefore I am now scoping out "good" nail polishes. A quick Google search will show you 4-6 companies with this ethos. Each little bottle will set you back, and I don't want to throw out all my cheap stuff with perfect colors (hello Rimmel!), so I'm determined to buy and use a "good" basecoat at all costs.  

Priti NYC base and top coat - $12.50

This should act as a barrier to the bad stuff, right? RIGHT?